In reply to:


Aren't the majority of CO2 emissions from heavy trucks. I seem to remember a statistic from about 1990 that 90% of the pollution was caused by 10% of the vehicles. At that time, the high-polluting vehicles (mostly trucks, but also old cars) caused 89 times the pollution of the other ones. Granted, this is an old statistic, but large trucks have very powerful backers and have been exempt from most pollution legislation since then.



Most truck engines don't actually emit large amounts of CO2 as they run on Diesel, the engines typically have very high compression ratios, super/turbo chargers and all sorts of high-tech features that the average SUV engine has never heard of. This results in them emitting higher levels of pollutants like NOX (Nitrogen Oxides) - which are not greenhouse gases, merely responsible for the photochemical smogs and eventually acid rain.

Trucks do however emit lots more visible pollution than cars and lots of particulates (so called PM10s), which are proven to be very carcinogenic.

That figure you stated was for worst case situations in a study done in Calfornia from memory and these cases were a few old bangers of cars were found to be poking out 89 times the level of CO (Carbon Monoxide) - CO is a greenhouse gas too, but typically gets converted to CO2 eventually or chemically bound with other elements to form other compounds.

That study also showed that having a modern well tuned fleet of vehicles was as equally important as getting the old bangers off the roads.

This study was also conducted well before the SUV craze started in earnest.


Detroit wants the right to be able to captilise on this situation and allow the "trade in" the old bangers and get "carbon credits" for getting these old bangers off the road, so that they can then transfer the right to emit the pollution to new SUVs and cars - note this won't actually reduce the pollution, just spread it over more (and newer) vehicles.

A similar study conducted in LA found that burger bars and fast food joints were actually - to everyones surprise - major emitters of pollutants that cause photochemical smogs - this was becuase the "fat molecules" that go up the air circulation/venting systems is unfiltered and just the right size and make up to bind with other pollutants in the air and cause these smogs.

But thats a different story, and its not the same in all places in the US.


In reply to:


I would be interested to know what the current statistics are. I imagine that SUVs are worse than small cars but still dwarfed by tractor-trailors in the amount of pollution produced



Heres some figures* sourced from the DetroitProject website - take them at face value or not: The source is shown below. I snipped out the ones that are not relevant.

In reply to:


...

7. Cars are responsible for 25 percent of the heat trapping (Global Warming) gases produced.

8. The U.S. consumes 8 billion barrels of oil a year, much of which goes to fueling our vehicles.

9. Average mileage of our new cars and trucks is at its lowest level in 20 years.

...

12. The life span of each new car is now over twenty years.

13. There are already over 20 MILLION suv’s on the nations roads.

14. Suv’s spew up to SIX TIMES as much smog - causing pollution per mile as cars.

...

17. An automobile engine produces 20 pounds of carbon dioxide for every gallon of gas it burns, or about 1 pound per mile.

18. A hybrid car produces less than one half pound of CO2 per mile.

19. Suv’s have no fuel economy standards because they are considered trucks.

20. Fleet-wide fuel economy is decreasing because of the growing popularity of suv’s.


*Source: Natural Resources Defense Council
From the book, High and Mighty: SUVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and how They Got That Way, by Keith Bradsher. Copyright © 2002.




Assuming these figures are somewhat accurate (or no less inaccurate than the fiugures Detroit would rebutt them with ;-) )

Each SUV pollutes to the same level as 6 cars, that means that the current SUV "pollution" factor is equivalent to 120 million cars if 20 million SUVS are on the road now, and with at least 12.5 million new SUVs sold each year (based on 25% minimum of new vehicles are SUVs, with 50 million "cars" -( including SUVs I guess) made each year), then the pollution footprint of *new* SUV alone is equivalent to a least the equivalent 75 million cars *Each Year* - and growing.

Or to put it another way - collectively, new SUVs have at least twice the pollution footprint of all the non-SUV cars made each year - and that footprint is growing.

And won't shrink for probably at least 5 years or until Hybrid SUVs start coming onstream..